Bailey Alexander

Lola Voronina; A Russian explains how the Pirate Party moves from strength to strength.

The Pirates are committed, cool and very, very focused. Rick Falkvinge found the party, keeping his calendar full of speaking engagements yet the independent members are what moves the fastest growing political party into the future. Fantastic stuff.   

I'm trying to get Falkvinge on Alex Jones and Democracy Now but other movements seem to occupy their time. So many movements, indeed, but inspirational to see how the Pirates move their ideas into action. Entering European Parliament and spreading their message through missionary work, like Kopimism, which just makes me smile. 

And to think she's going to teach me how to make Borscht next week. Life's nice. 

Obama The Odd; dropping his name into biographies of prior presidents.

Seth Mendal in Commentary:

Glenn Greenwald on 'dangerous, creepy' pundits like Andrew Sullivan

Sullivan's a blogger that capitalized on 9/11, supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003, idolized Bush Jr. early on and practices the sort of situational morality that can only come from a Christianist. To his credit, his site has always been extraordinarily prolific, hiring young interns to extract a myriad of morsels to feast on from the internets. Yet, his weekly sermons are often just too much, but then, he is an Irish Catholic, almost peculiarly humorless and dangerous, oh yes, very. Glenn Greenwald calls him on it, emphasizing how painful it is to watch it. 

Glenn Greenwald: "Andrew Sullivan — who has become the most reliable media hagiographer of an American President since . . . . the 2002 version of Andrew Sullivan under President Bush...

"Obama's campaigning for re-election like he's some sort of populist crusader."

Glenn Greenwald begs the question: Why has the Obama administration so aggressively protected the financial industry from legal accountability?

In spite of it all, Ron Paul keeps winning...

In spite of the skeptics, the doubters, in spite of all those too leary of learning anything outside of what they already know, think they believe, know to be true.

May Day

Chris Hedges is not only suing Obama over NDAA but he's got some strong thoughts on OWS. He suggests its not about a date, an action but rather the beginning of a long process. He believes the movement articulates all that is inherently wrong with our system. He finds our government as corrupt, as fragile, as decayed as any, in particular he compares our 1% to the elites locked away in Versailles back in 1789.

He suggests ours government is out of touch, quite like Versailles; ripe for our own Revolution. Sounds like Alex Jones. Jones insists everything is a conspiracy, Hedge insists the system is corrupt, therefore ungovernable. Sounds like two sides of the same coin.  

Hedge's doesn't consider himself a member of the movement, of OWS, but he sees it as the beginning of being able to create paralysis through momentum and transparency. Mask or no mask, conspiracy or gross incompetence.

Let the festivities begin...

Where's the left side of this paradigm?

It's been a long time since I caught Sandra Bernhard on stage in New York but her words linger and I can still hear her saying, "Where's Cher! I look here, there, everywhere but no Cher..." We love Cher, a face so uniquely beautiful before she dared to enter and alter it so severely. Still lovable but we grew to miss that lovely face. 

 

 

 

Larry Kramer interviews Gore Vidal; to be or not to be 'gay' is not the question.

Had a chat with Gore Vidal last night. He never, ever disappoints. Reading the master is like sitting across from the lion, each of us seated in a high back chair, glass of Chivas in hand, relaxed.     

In Sexually Speaking, a series of essays on sex, GV opens his preface with a piece about Tennessee Williams, thinking Tennessee's gay critics cruel, sinister even, insisting everything outside the 'gay' condition must be marginalized. 

Gore admired Tennessee's response to this sort of dull bigotry: "Why should I limit my audience any more than it is already?"  Writers and artists first and foremost. Of course, if you wish to read about Tennessee's private life, you can, I did, it's graphic and honest. But it has little to do with his poetry, his plays. He was far more familiar with heterosexual life, especially in his early, fertile writing days. The heavy cruising came later on. 

GV ends his preface with a quote from Elaine May, "I love a moral problem so much more than a real problem." (where have these people gone...)

Garage Sale laws; stripping citizens of their self-sufficiency, one by one.

Slightly unsettling trends like limiting Garage Sales appear to be stripping Americans of self-sufficiency. One law at a time. I read these items from across the pond on a daily basis then my friends from childhood confirm them on Facebook.

It boggles the mind to see people denied the right to grow their own tomatoes, sell lemonade or raw milk. These being benign examples.

Matt Taibbi on how the Tea Party and Occupy overlap, along with the fact...

"...our system definitely can't work if corrupt, failing companies escape consequence by leaning on an endless supply of bailouts and low-interest financial patronage by the Federal Reserve."

 The Tea Party and Occupy overlap:

"To me, the dichotomy outlined by Rosenbaum helps explain the appearance of two seemingly contradictory major protest movements: a Tea Party movement fulminating against a repressive, overweening regulatory regime, and the Occupy movement railing against an extreme laissez-faire system bordering on lawlessness.

The situation described by Rosenbaum explains how both movements could be right. Just as Tea Party leaders argue, there really has been an enormous flowering of new regulatory burdens in recent decades. It's just that one group of actors has been given de facto license to ignore those burdens, while everyone else has not. Thus two movements protesting lawlessness on the one hand and an excess of laws on the other – that doesn't necessarily strain the imagination."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/with-blistering-dallas-fed-report-ending-too-big-to-fail-goes-mainstream-20120329#ixzz1qhWZfRnZ

 

The deliciously sinister world of French politics and its most pitiless of politicians; Sarko.

à bientôt I'll be traveling to Paris, albeit briefly but it does perk up the ears to recent French 'particulieurs'....

Interesting to note how Sarkozy, perhaps the most pitiless of politicians, known as the crime and security president, has proposed yet another draconian law. His latest proposal would imprison those who repeatedly visits websites that support and promote terrorism or hatred. The Times of India, legal experts are concerned that such a law could curtail freedom of speech. Reporters Without Borders accused Sarkozy of trying to create an internet surveillance system. 

Almost as if Sarko's re-living past Maghreb riots that took place in the banlieues, the poor suburbs, full of poor Algerians like the shooter, Mohamed Merah. Little surprise Sarko's racist campaign's are joined by xenophobic reactionary Marine Le Pen, a candidate doing far better than her father. She's now practically mainstream, such is her savvy political nature as well as the current emotional environs of France. 

Well why not follow the money as they say, follow the money. Where does a French kid of Algerian descent, unemployed, well known by authorities, on the US no-fly list, on his way to jail,  find an arsenal of guns, maintain a large number of safe houses and own several vehicles?

Matt Taibbi on how America's rigged; From Fed to Municipality.

From Taibblog:

A friend of mine sent this article from Bloomberg, along with the simple comment: "Perfect." What's perfect? That the banks that have been caught repeatedly ripping off communities and munipalities -- banks that have paid hefty settlements for rigging bids, bribery and other sordid misdeeds -- keep winning the most public business. Apparently, our public officials aren't concerned about whom they hire to serve as the people's investment bankers.

Sean Stone on Alex Jones

I luv these muckrakers; they make life interesting and I've nothing but time for their curiosity and imagination. More importantly they bring critical issues out into the air, to better breathe and be discussed. MSM is simply the gatekeeper. If you wish to subsist in static mode, fine but I find life's realities to be fluid.  

Truth is but one ideal to embrace here in Bohemian...and Sean Stone is certainly a chip off the old Block that is Oliver Stone.

 

RMONEY. As Dawn Powell said; Satire is people as they are...

Romney photo via Andycheninprogress. I quote Dawn Powell's quote as oft as possible, in fact she hangs on my living room wall.

Even Gore Vidal marveled ather level of humour, so evolved, so tender but brutally honest. His remarkable essay forced her novel back into print through sheer literary will; "for decades Dawn Powell was always just on the verge of ceasing to be a cult and becoming a major religion."

Rick Falkvinge's the rare player that's managed to legislate his passion and concerns for privacy and copyright law into Parliament, one country at a time.

On Rick Falkvinge's site you can read all about information policy and civil liberties in Europe and elsewhere in the world, if only we could channel Rick's ideas through the megaphone Alex holds across the pond, far more people would understand and appreciate those issues that directly impact their online lives. 

And like Alex, on this side of the pond, Rick is a force gathering momentum along with millions of fellow enthusiasts in search of all the latest data re SOPA, ACTA and PIPA. 

Speaking of...at first, the German government was a bit amused by Pirate Bay, now they're taking them seriously.

Greg Palast on Alex Jones; couldn't have said it better myself.

Other than Anonymous, there's too few making an impact. Too few modern day muckrakers, with their heart in the right place...alas, we have Greg Palast. 

His thoughts on Alex Jones align with my own. Alex is a force not to be denied, the most popular radio host on the internet in North America, nooooo dispute on that data...and the fact he showcased the women that run democrats against the UN agenda 21, two lesbians that are pro-choice proves he is on the side of the angels. He actually stopped talking for an hour. 

Go Greg, your book, Vulture's Picnic is doing well, as it should. Go Alex, go RON PAUL!!

Here's the link, apparently it does not want to play cut and paste. Greg Palast in Praise of Alex Jones

Divinely inspired Pop and then some; John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Moving from Amsterdam to Prague allows past treasures in the form of books and photographs to re-surface and inspire attention.

Not unlike long term relationships, like emotions, items get lost, then found and this one made me particularly happy,  David Sheff's book called "All we are saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono."

A book about the miracle of a man; the mystic prince and the Oriental princess. When I say Oriental, I write the term in the deeply respectful manner of Edward Said. 

Back then, Yoko Ono was reviled, not only regarded as a manipulative bitch, the press crucified her. She was Lucifer and his minister Mephistopheles combined. It's insane in hindsight. She was just a completely independent soul, uniquely Yoko Ono.

Rosa Koire and Kay Tokerud; Democrats against UN AGENDA 21; "This is not a conspiracy theory, it is a conspiracy fact."

Who are these extraordinary women?

"We are civil rights advocates, pro-choice, and pro-gay marriage, who until recently considered ourselves 'progressive Democrats.'  We are university educated, middle income professionals who seek to make common cause with others in the United States who share our concerns."  

Excellent.

What's their story?

Ron Paul: Perhaps we can't handle the truth.

Don't get me wrong, I understand perfectly well why people find Libertarianism a cold and harsh philosophy. It requires a massive amount of self-reliant behavior. 

If I hadn't grown up in Seattle I might not be as receptive, the Emerald City was such an entrepreneurial state of mind. I didn't know anyone that worked or relied on the government. I suppose that's part of the reason today's climate appears so startling, to realize the number of people that rely on the government; as client, or employer, to intervene on their behalf, to take care of them.

Glenn Greenwald; Progressives and the Ron Paul Fallacies

Absolutely fantastic article in Salon. A must read even if most won't...

Isn't that the truth, ctd...

"Whatever else one wants to say, it is indisputably true that Ron Paul is the only political figure with any sort of a national platform — certainly the only major presidential candidate in either party — who advocates policy views on issues that liberals and progressives have long flamboyantly claimed are both compelling and crucial.

The converse is equally true: the candidate supported by liberals and progressives and for whom most will vote — Barack Obama — advocates views on these issues (indeed, has taken action on these issues) that liberals and progressives have long claimed to find repellent, even evil.

(oh, and of course, at the end of the article, GG notes, of course, Obama signed the NDAA, a specific continuation of Bush/Cheney policy)

Ron Paul; At least he served his country.

 

EU and UK; an arranged truce, until now.

Der Spiegel presents a calm and rationale way of looking at the Failure of a Forced Marriage". 

It was forced, of course, but if living in Europe for the past decade has taught me anything, its the lack of cultural overlap between the EU and the UK. 

Perhaps that little 'bridge' from London allows francophiles to imbibe in the Parisian lifestyle and vice versa, who doesn't love London. And Paris.

Learning to listen to Alex Jones.

I like podcastland. My progressive left memes are re-enforced by Amy Goodman and for my far right, evangelical listening pleasure there is but one Alex Jones. 

Amy Goodman & co are natural extensions of a political lifestyle while growing up along the west coast. Alex Jones, on the other hand, presents a bit of a challenge.

I found his voice while living aboard our sailboat in Venice back in 2010. It was a solitary existence in northern Italy, finite and nice because I knew it to be finite. Our teak salon and deck chairs created a calm environment; my time was spent differently, as if I had more than I had before. 

So, for three hours each day I'd listen to this guy called Alex Jones, from Austin, Texas of all places, his voice so uniquely passionate and very, very rare. 

An immesely entertaining guy, kinda like the Italians. When they try to be funny, they fail, when they're naturally engaged; nothing less than sublime. Little surprise Alex has many Italian fans.   

We dismiss Ron Paul at our own peril.

 

I received an email from a passionate libertarian. Many tend to be passionate and very articulate, often specific and nuanced when in political debate. 

Meryl Streep channels Maggie Thatcher.

The Guardian: "Politicians, ugly buildings and whores," growled John Huston in Chinatown. "They all get respectable if they last long enough."

The Iron Lady makes its subject appear not merely respectable but poignant and sympathetic to boot: a woman who wanted nothing more than to change the world and make children happy (her children specifically). It leaves her shuffling plaintively from room to room, the legend at rest, or being examined by her doctor, who asks her how she feels.

"Feelings?" scoffs Thatcher. Feelings do no not interest her. Thoughts and ideas are what matter the most. "What we think is what we become. And I think I am fine." The Iron Lady, to a fault, seems to think that as well.

The Raw Goddess Ms. Roseanne Barr on The Alex Jones Show.

Once upon a time we could be shocked. And we were when Roseanne Barr arrived on the media scene. I remember her debut on Carson in '85. Johnny knew funny and she was; not fussed with pretty and pretentious, forget feminine wiles, bring on the class warfare cuz Roseanne Barr's a 2nd amendment, straight shooting kind of gal. 

In '86, David Letterman, by '87 she was crowned funniest female.   Punchlines weren't so much delivered as admitted, point black, hard boiled.  No veneer necessary, her package delivered w/out wrapping or ribbon.  She was kinda like an updated version of W. C. Fields. 

9/11 was a call to adventure.

9/11 meant different things to different people. Personally, it was a call to adventure. On the surface, after years of hard work, the rewards arrived, I was happily married, in good health, experiencing the American Dream.  I was lucky.

However, just beneath the surface, above the sub-conscious, where reality lurks and mischief begins, my country and my identity were amiss, incorrect; I heard the clarion call to adventure, answered and decided to leave. 

I felt deep shock, as did everyone, however, we didn't equally experience the paranoia and fear. 

Kenneth Tynan on "night-club Cassandra" Lenny Bruce

So few subjects like Lenny Bruce; only one quite like Kenneth Tynan to cover such a subject, Tynan's earthy, bawdy, style, w/out bitterness, blissfully politically incorrect.

"Constant, abrasive irritation produces the pearl: it is a disease of the oyster. Similarly-according to Gustave Flaubert-the artist is a disease of society. By the same token, Lenny Bruce is a disease of America. The very existence of comedy like his is evidence of unease in the body politic.

Jim Kunstler: Katrina in Vermont

The damage has not necessarily been done and the dramatic impact of the eastern seaboard appears far from over. Jim Kunstler's Monday post provides an interesting angle; "progressive" Vermont and "hard right" North Carolina, both states hit excessively hard with water damage conjure up a lethal cocktail; catastrophic climate conditions, energy scarcities and federal financial realities. Both ends of the political spectrum will have equal angst over how their government shall pay for this, several states continue to suffer...so much for the right-left paradigm...

Ripe Ingredients in UK Riot Souffle

Juan Cole; easy to skewer the obsession with Knights of Templar

Juan Cole site is a key ingredient for those wishing to read up on the Breivik madness from a distance. It's easy to skewer the obsession w/Knights of Templar, and yet the combination of this 'movement', the anti-jihadist blogs, the Geert Wilders and the rest allow us to understand why the partnership with Zionism can seem almost strategic.

Of course, one could argue the Knights have nothing on today's financial terrorism...

Andrew Norton and Glenn Greenwald report on Oslo's un-American response.

Rick Falkvinge's site has an article that overlaps nicely with Glenn Greenwald's post;

Germany will decide when to turn out the lights on Euro

 Germany was always the economic engine, we said this all along. Exactly when its over is kinda key. However, in this random, globalized world, nobody knows...

ht video: Max Keiser

Murdoch madness; layers upon layers of schadenfreude

Many aspects serve to highlight Tony Blair's odious toadiness to power but let's see what happens when the scandal travels across Atlantic.

Will the ex PM's mentors, the Clintons, turn on the worm that is Murdoch and channel their inner jackal?  Who knows!  Either way, let's give a cheer for the British as they've earned it in spades.

Governments govern differently.

Growing up I pledged allegiance to my flag, respected my government and gave it little thought. It wasn't until 9/11 happened and I moved away that I began to compare and contrast my government to others.

For example, in Malta, a small and compact island in the middle of the med, the people are engaged with their government. They have a deeply intimate relationship with their politicians, often you find the entire country votes each and every time an election or referendum arrives, dictating they do just that. It's small; it's a place and space of mind where democracy can breathe and live healthily out in the open. 

When we lived in Paris and had family living in the south, the culture and country in general were deeply keen on good argument about policy debate. The French are chatty, engaged and feisty and I often got the sense their government respected the will of the people, an emotional group of people. They care. 

In Italy, where life is far more complicated, it felt as if the people disregarded their central government, but did participate heavily in both regional politics and debate. It is a chaotic place when seen from outside but from within, not so much. Italians know how the game is played, they're familiar with the players are and respect them locally, not so much as a nation. The left and south are both very Italian in culture but distinctly different in production and attitude.   

Debt debate and when cultural shifts become economic.

What happened to US. Was it Clinton, Reagan or before. If you grew up in the 70's you felt the shift, away from the collective, towards the individual, when we earned the term "the me decade."  

Per usual Frank Rich hits it out of the park.

Exquisitely written article by Frank Rich called 'Obama's Original Sin'. 

Michelle Bachmann and why you might not want to mock.

Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone:

Obama's actions are amoral.

French Elections Part Deux: The Wrath of Khan

I'm thinking the next French elections might be inspired by Star Trek. After the dastardly task has come and passed, with one very public perp walk, the French may surprise and conjure up the famous line uttered Khan:

Revenge is best served cold. 

Houston; we have problem.

An M16 operative whispered in my ear a few weeks backs and to the world for that matter, that Gadaffi would be captured by the end of the month. They also said we'd find WMD's in Iraq.

Italy is definitely not in w/the PIGS?

Future: Bitcoin

Two items in the morning news that sum up the Obama Administration

Malta; the will of the people to want to be able to divorce.

While the Middle East, not so far away addresses its own issues, Malta grapples with its own. 

Can't make this stuff up; Ron Pearlman, a.k.a. Adam Gadahn

Tony Blair and his tribe; how various gangsters and banksters run 'their' world.

Thieves and robber barons continue to take their piece. In Venezuela, The Rabbit and his gang run a prison which could be construed as a resort. A British national inmate, a drug trafficker, says its the by far the finest prison he's even done time in. No need to leave; drugs, cockfights, sex, outdoor pools; gratification replaces incarceration. 

Have we crossed the Rubicon?

Have we reached the point of no return? Not sure, haven't been back for years but it does appear as if my fellow Americans continually opt for safety over liberty. 

Great American patriots + Patriot Act, ctd = Jingoism.

How does our beloved American congress respond to Bibi's blatant disregard for US interests?  For his recent public dismissal of our Prez? How do they respond to ludicrous and absurd proclamations such as equating Hamas with Al Qaeda and claiming that Israel is "not a foreign occupier" in the West Bank?

By providing the Israeli PM w/far more ovations than our own US President, that's how. 

Chastity to Chaz, Cher and Cintra; if possible, happier than ever...

...about being a female, in fact, was just ruminating on said fact the other day, playing out my shudderbug voyeurism @Chez Bay.

Most interesting, informative read from Cintra Wilson. And no, no need to see the film. Most edible amuse bouche;